Agriculture Terms

Ranching

A form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area • Adapted to semiarid or arid land and is practiced in developed countries where the vegetation is too sparse and the soil too poor to support crops

Pastoral Nomadism

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domestic animals • Adapted to dry climates where planting crops is impossible • Live primarily in the large belt of arid and semiarid land that includes Central and SW Asia and N Africa

Intensive Subsistence Agriculture

A form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers must spend a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum feasible yield from a parcel of land. • Intensive means farmers must work intensively to survive on a parcel of land - do not waste • Most used in densely populated developing countries (E, S, SE Asia) (3/4 of world pop)

Shifting Cultivation

A form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another; each field is used for crops for a relatively few years and left fallow for a relatively long period • Practiced in much of the world's Tropical climate regions which have relatively high temperatures and abundant rainfall • 2 distinctive features o Farmers use all nutrients in soil for few years then leave it unplanted to replenish o Clear land for planting by slashing vegetation and burning debris

Cereal Grain

A grass that yields grain for food • Most humans derive most of their kilocalories from cereal grains • 3 leading (wheat, rice, corn) account for 90% of all grain production and over 40% of worldwide dietary energy consumption

Plantation

A large farm in tropical and sub-tropical climates that specializes in the production of one or two crops for sale, usually to a more developed country • Most located in tropics and subtropics, especially in L America, Africa, and Asia • Usually owned and operated by Europeans or N Americans • Grow crops for sale primarily to developed countries

Reaper

A machine that cuts cereal grain standing in a field • Ex: McCormick reaper- invented in late 1830s and first permitted large-scale wheat production

Combine

A machine that reaps, threshes, and cleans grain while moving over a field • Large-scale grain production: highly mechanized, on large farms, oriented to consumer preferences

Swidden

A patch of land cleared for planting through slashing and burning • Cleared land can support crops only briefly, usually 3 years or less

Ridge Tillage

A system of planting crops on ridge tops in order to reduce farm production costs and promote greater soil conservation • Compares favorably with conventional farming for yield while lowering the cost of production • More labor intensive, but profitable on a per-acre basis

Subsistence Agriculture

Agriculture designed primarily to provide food for direct consumption for the farmer and the farmer's family • Practiced in developing countries • Smaller fields, use hand tools and animal power

Commercial Agriculture

Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm • Practiced in developed countries but very expensive due to mechanization and large farms • Most work done using machinery, smaller number of farmers, larger farms

Slash-and-Burn Agriculture

Another name for shifting cultivation, so named because fields are cleared by slashing the vegetation and burning the debris

Crop

Any plant gathered from a field as a harvest during a particular season

Agribusiness

Commercial agriculture characterized by the integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations. • Commercial farming is closely tied to other businesses • The system of commercial farming found in developed countries has been called agribusiness because the family farm is not an isolated activity but is integrated into a large food-production industry. • Commercial farmers make heavy use of modern communications and information technology to stay in touch and keep track of prices, yields, and expenditures.

Truck Farming

Commercial gardening and fruit farming so named because truck was a middle-English word meaning bartering or exchange of commodities • Grow many of fruits and vegetables that consumers in developed countries demand- apples, cherries, tomatoes • Most sold to large processors for freezing

Undernourishment

Dietary energy consumption that is continuously below the minimum requirement for maintaining a healthy life and carrying out light physical activity • UN estimates 870 million people in world are undernourished- 99% are in developing countries (India has by far the most)

Sustainable Agriculture

Farming methods that preserve long term productivity of land and minimize pollution, typically by rotating soil-restoring crops with cash crops and reducing imputs of fertilizer and pesticide • Farmers using sustainable agriculture generate lower revenues but also pay loser costs than conventional famers • 3 differentiating factors from conventional farmers o Sensitive land management o Limited use of chemicals o Better integration of crops and livestock

Sawah

Flooded field for growing rice • Word in Austronesian language family widely spoken in Indonesia and Java

Pasture

Grass or other plants grown for feeding grazing animals, as well as land used for grazing

Double Cropping

Harvesting twice a year from the same field • Common in places with warm winters- S China/Taiwan, but rare in India with dry winters • Alternates between rice grown in summer (high precipitation) and wheat/barley in winter (dry)

Chaff

Husks of grain separated from the seed by threshing • Ex: rice plants- beaten on the ground in order to separate chaff from seed during harvesting

Food Security

Physical, social, and economic access at all times to safe and nutritious food sufficient to meet dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life • Roughly 1/8th of the world's people do not have food security

Green Revolution

Rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology especially new high yield seeds and fertilizers • Started during 1970s and 1980s • Involved 2 main practices- intro of new higher yield seeds and expanded use of fertilizers • GR - agricultural productivity at a global scale has increased faster than population growth

Wet Rice

Rice planted on dry land in a nursery and then moved to a deliberately flooded field to promote growth • Occupies a relatively small percentage of Asia's agricultural land, but is the region's most important source of food

Grain

Seed of a cereal grass • Wheat: principle grain consumed in developed Europe and NA (also Central and SW Asia- easiest to grow in dry conditions) • Rice: most suitable crop for production in tropical climates (developing E, S, and SE Asia) • Maize: leading crop in world; grown mostly for other purposes besides consumption (animal feed) • Others: sweet potatoes, sugar, yams, plantains (esp. in Sub-Saharan Africa)

Paddy

The Malay word for wet rice, commonly but incorrectly used to describe a Sawah by Europeans and North Americans

Dietary Energy Consumption

The amount of food than an individual consumes, measured in kilocalories (Calories in the United States) • One gram (or ounce) of each food source delivers a kilocalorie level that nutritionists can measure

Milkshed

The area surrounding the city from which milk is supplied • Dairying is most important type of commercial agriculture in first ring outside large cities due to transport factors- able to spoil easily so must be closer than other farms

Aquaculture

The cultivation of seafood under controlled conditions • The growth has led to the farming of non-native species • Ex: Asian Carp- imported to US in 70s to a fish farm - farm flooded and fish got into waterways o Threatening survival and condition of other native US fish

Desertification

The degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions such as excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting. Also known as semiarid land degradation • Semiarid lands that can support only a handful of pastoral nomads are overused because of rapid population growth • Human actions (with use of all water in given farmland) lead to desertification

Agriculture

The deliberate effort to modify a portion of Earth's surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for sustenance or economic gain. • Originated when humans domesticated plants and animals for their use • In each society, farmers possess very specific knowledge of their environmental conditions and certain technology for modifying the landscape.

Horticulture

The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers • Ex: most crops in Mediterranean are grown for human consumption rather than for animal feed • Commercial base of Mediterranean farming

Prime Agricultural Land

The most productive farmland • Serious problem in US- 500,000 acres of prime agricultural land has been lost due to expansion of urban areas into countryside (suburbanization)

Hull

The outer covering of a seed • Ex: rice- if to be consumed directly by the farmer, hull is removed by using a mortar and pestle

Crop Rotation

The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year to avoid exhausting the soil • Used in parts of Asia where wet rice isn't grown- can obtain more than one harvest some years • In colder climates- wheat or other crop planted in spring and harvested in fall (no winter)

Transhumance

The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and low land pastures • Sheep are an example of pastured animals- may pasture in alpine meadows in the summer and herded back into valleys for winter pasture

Agricultural Revolution

The time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering. • It occurred in around the year 8000 BC. • Geographers and other scientists believe that the reason for the sudden population increase around the world was because of the agricultural revolution. • By growing plants and raising animals, human beings created larger and more stable sources of food, so more people could survive. • Environmental and Cultural factors played roles in agricultural revolution

Thresh

To beat out grain from stalks • Ex: rice- beaten on ground or stamped on barefoot

Winter Wheat

Wheat planted in the autumn and harvested in the early summer • Winter wheat belt through Kansas, Colorado, and Oklahoma- develops strong roots after being planted in autumn before growth stops in winter o Enables it to survive, especially if insulated under snow

Spring Wheat

Wheat planted in the spring and harvested in the late summer • Spring wheat belt through Dakotas, Montana, and S Saskatchewan in Canada- winters are too harsh to plant crops

Winnow

to remove chaffs by allowing it to be blown away by the wind • Ex: rice- once threshed, lighter chaff is winnowed